Locking device for automobiles



' E. F..-JONES.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION man MAR.21. 1919.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD F. JONES, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CAESARCAZELL, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Application filed March 21, 1919. Serial No. 284,040.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. JoNEs, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and Stateof Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LookingDevices for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to locking devices for automobiles andparticularly to an attachment for use in connection with the steeringwheel and the steering column or attachments thereof, whereby thesteering wheel is held against rotation and the throttle actuatingmembers or levers are held against movement, so that during the time therestraining device is in place, the automobile cannot be effectivelyoperated.

An object of this invention is to provide novel means which may bereadily applied to and removed from a steering mechanism and which maybe locked in place so that unauthorized persons may not be able to usethe car.

A still further object of this invention is to produce a guard which iscomparatively inexpensive and which is effective and satisfactory in useas well as strong and durable.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein likecharacters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and inwhich- Figure 1 illustrates a view in elevation of a locking deviceembodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a modified form of shackle orlocking device.

In these drawings the shackle is shown as comprising two members 26 and27, the latter of which has its extremity 28 extending at an angle tothe length of the member 27 and terminating in an eye 29 which isdesigned to register or aline with an eye 30 in the member 26.

Near the inner ends of the members 26 and 27, the said members areoutwardly bent to form a loop like structure which is intended toembrace a steering column, the inner ends of the said members beingconnected by a pivot 30' so that the members can be swung apart ortoward each other,

when the shackle is to be applied to or removed from the steering post.

A shackle of the construction just described can be as easily attachedto the steering post as the form first described, since it is onlynecessary to separate the outer ends of the shackle until they pass onopposite sides of a steering post after which they can be brought closetogether and pushed through the openings of the quadrant and thethrottle or controlling levers can be adjusted so that they will liebetween the said members.

By the simple and comparatively inexpensive means thus illustrated anddescribed, it will be seen that an effective restraining device isproduced and that it can be pro duced withoutthe exercise of undue skilland by the employment of materials which are regarded as stockmaterials, since no special sizes are necessary for use in manufacturingthe same.

I claim:

In a lock for the throttle control and steering wheel of an automobile,shackle mem-.

bers having their ends pivotally connected together, the said membersdiverging from the pivot and shaped in oppositely extending loops, thesaid looped portions of the said members having a clearance for thereception of steering column of an automobile, the said membersembracing the throttle controlling lever for limiting the movement ofthe said lever, one of said members being of greater length than theother, said longer member having its extremity lying at an angle to themain portion thereof at a point opposite the end of the shorter member,the said xtension of the longer member having an eye in its endoverlying the end of the shorter member and the said shorter memberhaving aneye in its end adapted to register with the first mentioned eye"for receiving a shackle of a lock, the said angularly extendingextremity of the longer member overlying an arm of the spider of saidsteering wheel, and the said members embracing the said arm of thespider to limit the movement of the said steering wheel.

EDWARD F. JONES.

